


Broken Mirrors

by Impossiblysmart



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Break Dance AU, F/M, Fluff, Kinda, Plot, also dirty jokes, be warned, i don't even know what to call this type of burn, man this thing is everywhere, there are swears my friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6254185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impossiblysmart/pseuds/Impossiblysmart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Formerly called Stray Cat</p><p>Ballerinas Marinette and Alya hear about a dance club under the streets of Paris from Alya's boyfriend who she met on the internet. The Stray Cat dance club is run by a pun making blond in a cat sweatshirt, Cat Noir. Little do Marinette and Alya know, he's also Adrien Agreste, Marinette's crush from dance class and the son of Gabriel Agreste who runs their school. Unfortunately, Mr. Agreste life's work is finding The Stray Cat (that is somewhere on his property) and shutting it down. </p><p>This is a series of fluff and angst. </p><p>Slightly aged up, dance AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Only a Tiny Bit Illegal

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this is a part of the Break Dance AU thing on tumblr. I couldn't help myself.

“Basically, your boyfriend got us in?” Mari asked Alya accusingly.  
“What? Out of that whole story about my brilliant hacking skills and extreme espionage, that’s what you got out of it?”  
“Alya, you run a dance blog, you're not exactly a computer genius.”  
“Fine, yeah, DJ got us in.”  
“Alya, I’m not really sure how I feel about this. I mean, you meet this random guy on the internet and he just so happens to know the name of a secret underground dance club not two blocks away from the academy. Forgive me if I find that a little sketchy.”  
“No! I did some research. There is definitely a club here, but it’s really hard to get into. And only a tiny bit illegal.”  
“How is a dance club illegal?”  
“It’s on academy property,” Alya shrugged, “But the police can’t really prove that, because they’ve never found it. Mr. Agreste is super pissed about it.”

Marinette wasn’t really surprised by that. Mr. Agreste got mad easily. He once kicked a girl out of the school for wearing cat ears. Mari and Alya always laughed that Mr. Agreste has a personal vendetta against cats. That being said, Mr. Agreste was one of the most prestigious dance teachers in the world. Going to his academy was an honor that neither her or Alya was about to give up.  
Until, of course, Alya and her internet boyfriend tempted Mari into a secret club adventure. While ballet was Mari’s major, she liked other dancing as well. And was surprisingly good, according to Alya, at break dancing. 

“How difficult are we talking here?” Mari stretched her legs into lunges as she walked down the dark Parisian street. She looked a little silly, but Mari had never done this many consecutive hours of ballet in a row. Her limbs were aching.  
“I don’t actually know. DJ just said that we would have to be absolutely sure we wanted in. That we were willing to do anything.”  
Mari stopped dead in her tracks, “Alya, that is about as sketchy as you can get. We are about to get murdered, I shit you not.”  
“Mari, I’m kidding. He just said we’d have to go through a check that we weren’t working with Mr. Agreste and trying to sell out the club.”  
“WHAT? Alya! The only way they would try to prove that is to see if we had any connections to the academy. Which I should remind you, WE BOTH GO TO.”  
“Ohhh, I didn’t really think about that.” The blogger put a finger to her chin.  
Marinette sighed, “Ok, they can’t know we go to school here. We need a cover. Don’t use your real name, unless DJ knows it?”  
Alya gave her head a quick shake. “No, he knows me by my username, LadyWifi.”  
“Ok!” With a finger in the air, Mari had an idea. “So you are just LadyWifi and I’ll be...” she thought a moment and looked down at her clothes. She, of course, was wearing the clothes she normally wore when she break danced, a sports bra under a red polka dotted crop top she made and some baggy black pants, “I’ll be Ladybug. That way they can’t connect us to the school using our names.”  
“They might ask for our real names, Mari.”  
“Let’s just hope they don’t, I guess?”  
“We need a plan B”  
“There is no plan B. It’s this or we can’t get in.”

Apparently they had to enter a sewer to get to this club. Underground club, indeed. Alya admitted that DJ had given instructions to get to the sewer, not the club. So after roaming around a bit and Marinette finding a beer bottle on the floor (civilization is near!), they turned into a graffiti filled part of the sewer. The walls splashed with color (the color green far more prominent that the rest) and found a black door with a green paw printed painted on it. Alya and Marinette glanced at each other and assumed their new identities, Ladybug and Lady Wifi.

“WHAT? You gave a random girl on the internet the location of the club?”  
“Bro, she’s not random. She’s sent me videos of her break dancing. Apparently her friend’s good too. These girls are legit.”  
“That could’ve been a random video on the internet, Nino!” Adrien ran his fingers through his blonde hair. He’s put way too much in the club to have it uprooted by the academy all because Nino likes a girl. Of course, he supported Nino and the mysterious Wifi girl, but the club.  
“Have I ever let you down?” Nino raised an eyebrow, and Adrien had to admit, no he hadn’t.  
“Fine. But how will we prove they;re not coming to sell out the club? And you didn’t them our names did you? We don’t want anyone connecting us to the club.”  
“No, but Adrien, what happened? You used to be so trusting of people, can’t you just trust my Lady?”  
With a final sigh, he agreed. Hoping, praying that the club would be okay. 

Later that night, Adrien impossibly heard a knock at the door. The music was incredibly loud, but he still heard it. Ears of a cat, he had. This must be the mysterious Lady Wifi and whatever friend she brought with her. He opened the door, and girls gasped. First off, he had completely forgotten he was wearing the most shady clothes ever. It was a completely black outfit (sweatshirt and pants) with tiny accents of neon green, the inside of his hood, the paw print on the front, matching the door. The top half of his face was covered in black chalk. The small gasp was all of their surprise. Soon they narrowed their eyes in suspicion.  
“Is this the Stray Cat dance club?” The voice came from the shorter of the two, her eyes almost impossibly blue, the top of her face also had chalk, only it was red. It was kind of a silly question, so Adrien smirked,  
“No actually this is the Stray Cat, cat dealers, specializing in all your cat dealership needs.” The girl rolled her eyes.  
“We want in.” is all she said, understanding the sarcasm. The music continued to pulse behind Adrien (although at the moment his role wasn’t as Adrien).  
Now it was his turn for the narrowed eyes. These girls could sell out the club, but it seemed like they knew what they were doing here. They hadn’t come in heels. They weren’t wearing dresses. They came, ready to dance. And that’s all he could ask of them.  
“Can I get some names?”  
“You can call me Ladybug. And this is Lady Wifi.”  
“Cool, I’m Cat Noir. And welcome to the Stray Cat.”


	2. You've Got to Be Kitten Me

Marinette was grateful the cat didn’t pry for their real names. In fact, he didn’t use a real one himself. It was a mutual agreement. We don’t want to know each other. She and Alya walked behind Cat Noir who was giving them a tour of the club. He had to raise his voice to be heard by them. He explained a little about the founding of the club.  
“This area of town is too… ballet centric, with the academy being so close by.” Mari and Alya glanced at each other. “And this is the center of town. Me and DJ decided that this town needed a little more umpf. DJ is good at what he does, you can go to talk to him, Wifi.” Alya seemed pretty happy about that, she grasped Mari’s shoulder for a second, silently pleading for the go ahead. Marinette couldn’t help but smile and nod in the DJ’s direction. Alya mouthed the words “Thank you” before moving away.  
Cat Noir smirked, again, as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.  
“You dance?” No disbelief or anything just a casual question. This time, Mari had the sarcastic comeback, “No, I run around flapping my arms like a butterfly.” The cat laughed a little, before saying,  
“You wanna show us what you got?”  
Uh oh. Mari wasn’t so sure about that, “Eh, the tour got me beat and I’ve got an early class.” She had never been sure she was actually good. Sure, Alya gave her support, but she was a little biased.  
“Makes sense we get a lot of students here.”  
“You aren’t one?” Mari really didn’t want too much information about Cat but she was curious.  
“Want to be, kind of don’t need to be,” he rubbed the back of his neck, his hand gloved. “Family’s got me set for life. Not that I’m happy about that. I wish they’d just let me go to school.”  
That interested Marinette for some reason, “What would you go for?”  
“Can one major in break dancing?”  
“Sure,” Marinette shrugged, “if one wants to be unemployed. Oooh, it’s getting late. I should go grab A- Wifi. Or should I say, pry her away from DJ.” Cat Noir grabbed her arm as she moved away. There was no smile on his face.  
“Hey, I put a lot into this club. And I would appreciate if you didn’t tell anyone about it.”  
“Why do you think I would? Am I that shady looking? Look, I’ll be back tomorrow. And I don’t want anyone to find out I’ve been here either. Okay? We are in agreement.” There was a small sigh of relief from Cat, and she figured it was safe to come back. “Do I need a password?”  
His smile appeared once more, “A cat pun.”  
“Are you shitting me? You aren’t serious.”  
“The correct answer there would have been, ‘You’ve got to be kitten me.’ If you need a suggestion.”  
“Wow, ok, I’m leaving now.” Mari rolled her bluebell eyes (she seemed to do that a lot around him), but she couldn’t help but smirk. What a dork. 

It took a little bit to get Alya and DJ apart, but when she did, Alya went full speed ahead in talking about the club.  
“I like it there,” Alya walked backwards down the sidewalk in front of Marinette, “Are you actually going to dance there? I want to. DJ and I have the same dance style. We could do duets. You could do some duets with Cat Noir too-”  
“Now stop right there. I don’t want to do duets. With anyone. I’m not even that good.”  
“Hi, Ms. Marinette “I-got-into-the-best-dance-school-in-France-on-a-scholarship” Cheng.”  
“Ballet, Alya. Ballet.”

___________________________

Marinette fell flat on her face. Which was ridiculous considering she was A BALLERINA. The godforsaken laugh that came out of Chloe Bourgeoisie was enough for Alya to put her hands up ready to hold Marinette back.  
“Ms. Dupain- Cheng, are you alright? Good. Let’s try that again.” Miss Bustier said with a wave in the air. Marinette blushed and nodded. She landed wrong from a mid air turn and yeah… embarrassment ensued. Luckily, she hadn’t seriously hurt herself. That would’ve been...really bad.  
Chloe’s laugh hadn’t subdued, but Mari stood and held her chin up. She wasn’t planning on do that again, and she didn’t. Chloe’s smirk finally wiped away when Mari landed gracefully and went into 5 perfect pirouettes. Something not even Chloe could do.  
Unfortunately, the smirk returned a little later when Miss. Bustier brought an announcement to the girls.  
“Great rehearsal, girls. There is one thing I need to say before you leave. As a class, we will be performing Sleeping Beauty. There a few private lesson dancers that will be joining us as well.” That. Is when the smirk returned. Miss. Bustier dismissed the class and all anyone could hear afterwards was Chloe talking about her dear old friend, Adrien Agreste.  
“Adrien takes private lessons with his father. He’s the second best dancer at this school. After me, of course. He and I will be the principal dancers. There’s no doubt. It takes a certain connection to be partnered. He and I, obviously, have that connection.”  
Everyone knew Adrien Agreste. His dad owned the school. He was a legend. His picture was on every ad for the school. Apparently, Chloe was the only one to ever meet him in person, but suddenly everyone either got a lot more excited or a lot more depressed. Chloe got everything handed to her, so it was pretty clear that she would be partnered with Adrien. Mari didn’t really care. She planned to dance as well as she could for the audition and leave it up to Miss. Bustier and Mr. Damocles, the ballet master, to decide who got the leads. 

A couple hours later, Mari was still at the studio, practicing a solo for the audition. A couple others were there too. Alya was stretching in the corner, Rose was practicing turns and Chloe was yelling at Sabrina to bring her some water, though all Chloe has done was a petite allegro and then sat in the corner. A knock on the door to the studio paused all of the dancers. Alya looked up at Mari, who shrugged. Rose went to open the door when a tall blond boy stepped inside.


	3. Done-ness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien leaves a bad impression on Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing before this chapter: [these brackets mean that it is a flashback] normally i'd use italics but can't on here?  
> k cool.
> 
> update: i learned how to italicize it sooooo yay!

“ADRIHONEY!” Was the first thing Adrien heard when he walked into the studio. The shriek sounded and Chloe him with a hug, and tried to kiss him on the cheek but Adrien pushed her away before she could.  
“Hi, Chloe.” He smiled, after all, Chloe was the only friend he had at this school. Nino didn’t do ballet. Not that he didn’t want to (though he didn’t want to) but he actually couldn’t. They found out a long time ago that when Nino tried ballet, bad things happened.  
Adrien looked around the room. There were four other girls in the room. One he recognized as Sabrina, with bobbed orange hair and glasses. One was short with short blonde hair and blue eyes. The other two stood next to each other, one had black hair in pigtails, the other will mid length brown hair that faded into blonde. Those two were talking to each other, kind of glancing at the scene in front of them but mostly facing each other. He wanted to go introduce himself to the three girls he didn’t know, but Chloe was dragging him to the center and demanding him to practice.  
He had heard about Sleeping Beauty from his father, who kind of forced him into participating. It didn’t matter that he was actually fine with it. He actually liked dancing. He liked ballet, but his father forcing him into certain roles didn’t really help. He was setting Adrien up for success, even when Adrien didn’t really do anything.

_“Dad, you know I see what you’re doing, right?” In one of the few moments he’d been able to talk to his father he had confronted him, “You have been having me practice Florimund’s solo for 3 months. Obviously that’s not a coincidence.”_  
_“I want you to succeed. You and Mr. D'Argencourt have been doing very good work.”_  
_“Yes, but father, don’t you think it’s a little unfair to the other danseurs who may have wanted the part? Nathanael does good work too.”_  
_“This boy is of no concern to me. You will be Florimund for the performance.”_  
_“Yes, Father.”_

It was pretty clear what was happening. This was his last year at his father’s school. It was the last year he could be made an apprentice at a company. There were going to be ballet masters from all over Europe at the final performance, and they would all see Adrien perform a difficult solo. The plan was falling into place. Of course, this meant making friend was nearly impossible. Everything was handed to him, whether he worked hard or not. His resolution was to work hard, so that it didn’t seem as bad. It was still pretty bad, though.

“Adrikins, why don’t you perform your solo?” Chloe hung off him like a monkey on a vine. He rubbed his neck and smiled sheepishly at her, and watched the two girls from before walk out.  
One of them had left their bag, probably the black haired one, because she hadn’t left with a bag. He started warming up, and didn’t really think anything of it. That is, until Chloe decided to pour the water she had all over the bag that was left behind.  
“Chloe! What are you doing?”

The reason they had walked out is because, honestly, Marinette and Alya didn’t really feel like watching Chloe flirt with a famous danseur. That was not on their list of things they wanted to be doing. So Mari and Alya resolved to go get some coffee and return to the studio later. About an hour later they came back and found Adrien hunched over Marinette’s stuff.  
“Whoaaa, what’s going on? Did Chloe set this up? Wow, ok. I see how it is with you guys.” Marinette grabbed her stuff to find it soaking wet.  
“Wait, no, that’s not what-” Adrien started but kind of fumbled with his words.  
“Whatever. Let’s go Alya.” Marinette turned to leave, and Alya sized up Adrien with narrowed eyes before following her. Adrien sighed. He’d only been trying to help. Although, once he thought about it, from her perspective it might look like he was the one who sabotaged her stuff. He mentally smacked himself, “Good job making friends, Adrien.”

 

Marinette couldn't wait to get back to the Stray Cat. Today had been hell, and she needed to dance off her worries. Though Mari was still brooding, Alya was walking excitedly next to her, doing tiny releves as she walked.  
“DJ said today is a battle day. So a bunch of groups are coming in to battle each other. It should be fun to watch.”  
Marinette was lucky she didn’t put her b-girl clothes in her ballet bag like she was planning on doing, because that would’ve meant A. They would’ve been wet B. The son of the owner/ director of the school would’ve seen them. Bad bad bad on all accounts. But no, she’d thought against it and left them in her and Alya’s dorm room. Soon they were standing in front of the black door with the green paw print. They heard music pumping through the door. Mari knocked solidly.  
“Password?” The voice came through the door along with the music. Somehow loud enough to be heard.  
“Oh, you were serious about that?” Mari asked in disbelief. She heard the reply, “Paw-sitively,” and smacked herself in the face. This cat.  
“OH! I’ve got one!” Alya raised her hand, though Cat Noir couldn’t see it, “This place is PAW- some.”  
“Oooh, nice, nice. Now you Bug girl.”  
“What? Why can’t that count for both of us?”  
“Come on, Ladybug, it's just one tiny pun.” Alya said, remembering to use her new name.  
Marinette sighed and rubbed her eyes with her fingers in done-ness, “You guys are being….im-paw-ssible.”  
“Purrr-fect. Come on in,” the door opened and Marinette was immediately greeted with the bright green eyes of Cat Noir.  
“You planning on actually dancing tonight? Or am I gonna be disappointed?”  
Oh. Dancing. Right. That’s what she came to do. Suddenly she felt very exposed. There were lots of people in the club. And not a lot of room for error.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I knew surprisingly little about Ballet and Break dancing. 
> 
> Did you know that a male ballet dancer is called a danseur in French? Me neither.  
> Did you know that a break dancer is called a b-boy or b-girl? Same. 
> 
> Did you know that I have been watching so many dance videos that my entire recommended section either had Ladybug videos or dance videos? I did. Because it's my computer. (but seriously its getting to be a problem)
> 
> Also, this chapter was short, I know, I have plans, guys.


	4. Hustled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug leaves a good impression on Cat Noir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i apologize in advance for the shortness of this chapter
> 
> special thanks to my friend bailee who keeps on trying to change the word danseur to DINOSAUR. also she edits my shit.

When Alya and Marinette walked in, two people were already battling. It was quite the sight. The guy was tall with a built physique , his hair stuck up in the hair and he was wearing a red sweatshirt. At the moment, he was doing a hand hop for a couple of minutes. Pretty impressive. His face was so determined, Mari thought his face was going to get stuck in a scrunched up position. The girl he was battling had ear length pink hair. She was wearing a hat that made her hair stick in all directions. The right side of her hair was in a pony tail. She happened to be dancing...in rollerblades. Mari glanced at Alya who slowly brought up her phone, her mouth agape. It seemed a little dangerous, but it seemed the pink haired girl knew what she was doing. Everytime Mari thought she fell she actually appeared to do it on purpose. Her big finale involved starting a little back, (to get a head start) skating forward for momentum, then kicking upwards, doing a flip and then landing in the splits. Tall guy was so beat.  
“There you have it!” Called DJ hearing the thunderous applause for the girl, “The Timebreaker! Alix Kubdel! Our champion!”  
She pumped her fist in the hair and skated around the circle of dance floor, high fiving people as she went.  
“Kim, you know what that means!” She addressed her fallen competitor, “No, challenges for a month!”  
Yes, he was defeated. Sure, he was pissy about it, but he smiled and shook her hand.  
“Next month, you are so going down.”

“Alriiiiight! Here comes our two newest members of the Stray Cat!” DJ winked at Wifi who even in the dark, Cat Noir could see her smile. It was cute. They were cute. Ladybug and Wifi had come in excited, saw the amazing talent that made its way to the Stray Cat and suddenly, Ladybug appeared to be having some doubts.  
Wifi grabbed her arm and took her to the side. Each of them was wearing similar but different clothes from yesterday. Both had the themes of their names but this time, Ladybug was wearing a tighter crop top than yesterday. Wifi wore a baggy shirt that came down just below her belly button. A wifi symbol on the front, while yesterday she had only been wearing a black tee. Both wore dark pants and sneakers to match their color schemes. They put a lot of thought into their outfits. Then again, so did he. He also noticed the red chalk had returned on Ladybug’s face, along with her snapback. Her pigtails remained intact.  
Wifi seemed to be having a very intense motivational pep talk talk, while Ladybug rubbed her arm in doubt. Adrien, summoning some confidence in his cat persona decided to take action. He strutted up to DJ, took the microphone and said, “I challenge… Ladybug!”  
From their little spot in the corner, he was Ladybug bolted her head towards him, eyes wide. The crowd cheered as Wifi smiled and pushed her towards the people, who pushed her to the center. Wifi followed her through the crowd.  
Cat Noir, who already couldn’t believe he’d put her in this situation (but knew she needed the push), took a dramatic bow and gestured toward the dance floor, “You first, my lady.”  
She turned to Wifi frantically, who didn’t address her back, but simply called out to her boyfriend, “She’ll take WTF by Missy Elliot.” Ladybug's face dropped in realization. A smile creeped onto her face. Cat Noir was in trouble.  
“Really? Is “she” sure?” DJ stood in front of his computer.  
Ladybug spoke this time, “She’s sure.”

No one was expecting what happened next.

The beats started, so did the lyrics and suddenly, the nervous wreck from 3 minutes ago was gone. When Ladybug began to dance she became… _flirty_. She got in his face, a finger to his chest, before doing a back handspring away from him. He smirked. Adrien loved the way she danced. She lost all self consciousness and just felt the music and went with it. The movements were fluid but spontaneous. Her body pulsed with the music, and she definitely wasn’t afraid to get intense. The dancing itself was impressive, not just how she presented it. Her upper body strength was amazing, falling in and out of difficult head spins and six steps. The style was a little bit hip hop mixed with original break dance moves. Hella facial expressions. The coin drops were professionally done and she ended with a flare (her feet didn’t touch the ground for a while) stood up, and danced over to him and the music ended with her face inches from his. He kind of fell in love her right then and there. She smiled at him, knowing that her intimidation tactic had worked, then moved away as the crowd roared.  
Adrien’s smile didn’t let up as he grabbed the mic again, “You know, I think I’ve been hustled.” He watched her walk over to Wifi and turn her head back to him. She knew she did well. She knew just might just win. She probably would win, but not that easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another break dance scene next. I wanted to "break" them up (ha see what i did there?) just for kicks and giggles. I'll probably post that one today???


	5. On Pointe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umbrella scene with no umbrella.
> 
> (also, yes, the chapter title is a pun)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, special thanks to my friend bailee for editing this and commenting the word "SCREECHING" on my google doc. 
> 
> screech on my friend. screech on.

“You know what, Bugaboo?” Cat Noir said the new nickname with a wink, “I’ll let you pick my music.”

Ladybug opened her mouth, but then he said, “Under one condition! I pick your music for next Thursday and you must dance it.”

“Deal. Fergalicious.” No hesitation necessary. The cat was appearingly surprised by this answer, but smiled.

“You got it,” he put his arms out like _bring it._

Cat Noir, he was something. He seemed to see Ladybug’s raging success and then throw everything to the wind. He had no filter, that’s for sure. Spinning on the floor and headstands were only part of it, and Ladybug learned a couple things about him.

One, He really liked pelvic thrusts. Two, He knew all of the words to Fergalicious.

His face was very expressive as he mouthed the words. Maybe it was mostly a joke, considering people (a lot of them males) whistled in the crowd, but his face was one hundred percent serious. Next to Ladybug, Lady Wifi was cracking up as she recorded this for her blog. All the while, Ladybug was low key kinkshaming him. Here was this guy, dressed as a cat making cat puns, dancing around (kind of cattish in his movements), pelvic thrusting, mouthing the words to Fergalicious (which to be honest, was a sentence Marinette never thought she would be living).  
She couldn’t help but laugh. Sure, he was a good dancer, but this is what drove her over the edge. She noticed his cocky confidence right away, but she respected his ability to doing something without any fear of embarrassment afterwards. Which meant he could do things like this just for laughs, and never regret it.  
She was kind of jealous. That’s the kind of person she wanted to be and he realized, as Ladybug, she could be. She could dance her heart out without the fear of the consequences, so long as no one knew she was actually Marinette. Silently, she promised herself to never be self conscious in this club, or at the very least, try to look past her self consciousness and put herself out there.  
Marinette ended up winning, but only by a little. She couldn’t blame them, a lot of times, humor beat...everything. She clapped for him, he clapped for her and they were good.  
She hoped her self consciousness wouldn’t hold her back again.

Ballet was a different story. At least in the club, everyone was nice and supportive. In ballet, on the other hand, there was Chloe and Sabrina and her most recent minion, Adrien. Adrien was in class today from the start. Miss Bustier introduced him and said he would be moving from private lessons to their class for the production. He had tried to smile at Marinette but she looked away, mouth in a knot. While Marinette refused to even look at him, Alya made up for it by glared at him like he had just kicked her puppy, which was cool. She’d have to thank Alya for having her back late. A quick glance showed that his face was disappointed, but Marinette couldn’t really take that seriously. Chloe was manipulative. Maybe he was too.  
“Auditions are this Friday, everyone. Remember, all of you will be in the ballet. The auditions are merely for casting placement. Today you will be practicing your audition piece one by one. Mr. Damocles will be in today to supervise work. Adrien, if you would like to go first.”

Marinette didn’t really stick around but to see Adrien nod and begin to stretch. His dad owned the school, he’d either be really good or really bad and she didn’t really care either way. She dragged Alya into the other studio to stretch there, both practicing for auditions.  
“Fuck,” Marinette said bitterly, her good pointe shoes weren’t in her bag. She must of left them in the dorm the day before drying out, even though the distinct memory that she had put them in her bag still clung in her mind. Either way, the shoes weren’t there. She’d have to use her dying pair, which wasn’t good for the fear of injury.  
“Did you bring your extra pointe shoes? I can’t find mine.”  
Alya stood at the bar doing releves, “No, they died. God, Mari you are always so forgetful. Didn’t I tell you not to forget them?”  
“Yes? But I could’ve sworn I put the shoes in my bag.”  
“Mari,” Alya put her hand to her face in dismay at her friends forgetfulness.  
Just then, the door to the studio creaked open. Adrien walked in, pointe shoes in hand. He must’ve finished his solo already.  
“Hey, I- uh- found these, they’re yours right, Marinette?” He handed the shoes to the very surprised girl who sat on the floor as she rummaged through her bag. Upon closer inspection, she realized that these weren’t her shoes, but brand new ones.  
“Uh, well actually these are new, and mine were not?” Mari looked up at him, a lot taller from the angle she saw him.  
“Well, ok they’re new. I, uh, wanted to say your stuff got wet- on accident- and well, I was trying to dry off your stuff yesterday and noticed the water had ruined your shoes. So I got you a new pair." There was a pause of utter silence. Adrien coughed, "I’m pretty new to this friend thing, I’ve been home schooled my whole life up until so I figured I’d make up for it.”  
“Oh, well, you didn’t have to get a new pair!” Mari stood quickly, surprised by this development. Was it possible her first judgement of Adrien was wrong?  
“Well, I -uh- didn’t want you to get injured or anything.” The blonde’s face showed genuine concern.  
Marinette’s heart flipped and tumbled as her mind raced. He held the shoes out to her. Breathless, she took them. He seemed to smile in relief.  
“W-well, t-thank you.”  
“I’ll see you at auditions! Merde!” He smiled and moved away.  
“R-right! Auditions. B-break a leg, well, no, don’t do that, what I mean is have a good dance, I mean, well yes do that but what that’s not what I meant...,” Marinette still stumbled over her words until he had left from the room.

Alya, who at the point Mari had totally forgotten was standing right next to her the whole time, looked at her in disbelief,  
“Mari, what the hell was that? I’ve known you for a long ass time and I’ve never heard you stutter like that.”  
“I. Don’t. Know. Alya, what just happened.”  
“Holy shit. I know what happened!”  
“Please enlighten me.”  
“Adrien is hot.”  
“Admittedly.”  
“Adrien is supposedly a good dancer.”  
“Supposedly.”  
“One, that a couple minutes ago, you thought was a total douche.”  
“Correct.”  
“But it turns out that you had jumped to conclusions, again.”  
“I do it a lot.”  
“And now you realize that not only is his gorgeous but he’s also got a heart of gold.”  
“Ok.”  
“And you like him!”  
“WHAT?”  
Now, during that whole conversation, Mari stood very still doing nothing but nodding and answering in disbelief all the while Alya got louder and more animated. But at that last point of the recap, Mari turned quickly towards her best friend, eyes wide with fear. Alya gave her only a knowing look before Mari said, “Fuck,” and fell onto her friend’s shoulder in defeat.  
Because, damn, she liked him. Suddenly everything he’d done in the past 24 hours seemed a whole lot nicer and a whole lot more irresistible. Mari was surprised how fast it happened. Standing there, head on Alya’s shoulder, she finally understood why they called it falling. Alya brought a finger to Mari’s chin, forcing her blue eyes to meet Alya’s brown ones.  
“Want to know the most ironic thing about this?” Mari wasn’t really sure she did.

“Now you actually want Adrien to get your clothes wet.”

“ALYA!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merde meants shit in french but it also means good luck and i thinks that's beautiful. 
> 
> also dirty joke there that i thought of and really couldn't go without. 
> 
> sorry not sorry?


	6. Hook, Line, Sinker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari dances her heart out.   
> Also Alya does that thing where she motivates Mari using Adrien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI! I'M NOT DEAD!!! AND NEITHER IS THIS FIC. omg this is so late. i don't really have a lot of excuses other than i have been writing ever other chapter of this fic except this one. and i'm semi working on another fic. so stay tuned. BUT I'M NOT DONE WITH THIS FIC. far from it actually. I've been thinking up a bunch of adorable fluff/ semi sin scenes and i have to work up to them. ugh, i'm so sorry. don't give up on meeee. ok *shoves chapter at you*

Ballet didn’t get any easier after that. Her audition piece was really good. Her critiques were nothing but small technical issues and positive remarks. But she was still having a hard time finding the confidence in herself to believe she could actually do well on her audition. Luckily, Alya was there to boost her moral. Basically by being an awesome human being.   
“Ok, first of all, Chloe’s a bitch. Second of all, she’s a bitch.”   
Marinette laughed as Alya listed her reasons not to listen to Chloe on her fingers.   
“I’m not saying she’s not, Alya, but she does have some good points.”  
“Oh yeah? Like what?” Alya’s hand were perched on her hips (hips she was proud of) challenging her friend.   
“Well, there’s the fact that I am super clumsy.”  
“Okay, that’s true, but that fact is that you aren’t clumsy when you dance, most of the time. When it comes down to it, you dance better than anyone in that class. Including Chloe. Including me. But you know I’m not in it to dance.” She dismissed the point with a wave. Alya’s major plan was to take dance and do dancing for some time to learn everything she could about it, before going to college for journalism. The end game was to be editor at a major dance magazine company, Break it Up, Break it Down, which sported articles on all types of dance, “The point is, you can work hard and make principal or you can not even try and let Chloe take principal, but then she would be dancing with Adrien.”  
“Aw, hell no. Alright you’re right, Alya. I can do it. I love you, you know that right?”  
“Uh, duh. Of course you love me. I’m awesome.”   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When auditions rolled around on Friday, Mari felt nervous but prepared. She was passionate about dancing and wanted to succeed in everything she put her mind to, whether that be becoming Aurora for Sleeping Beauty or defeating Cat Noir in their next dance battle, she needed to be confident in herself. The auditions were held on the extravagant stage of the school, bright light shining down, bringing Mari back to her times competing at dance competitions in her youth. Quickly, she made the stage her home, striding onto it with all the grace she could muster, confidence brimming from her face. The seats held everyone who went to the school, not just her class. Maybe a quarter of the theater was filled with professional alumni to the youngest (the kids who took the weekend classes). Her class sat in first couple of rows in the theater; Alya flashed a quick smile at Mari, finding her home behind her camera phone. Mr. Agreste, would had decided to judge as well, was nowhere to be found, but a large professional looking camera was set up down the middle walkway. Mari also saw Adrien in the audience, he smiled at her too. We’re friends now, Mari reminded herself. She almost blushed anyway when she was interrupted by her the start of her music.  
For Marinette, the piece was a little dark, but she loved it. When she danced like this, she always surprised those watching her. Sweet Marinette Dupain-Cheng wouldn’t do a dark piece, would she?   
She would. And did. Well.   
Hook, line and sinker. Marinette was phenomenal at acting and dancing.No one else was on stage, yet the story of her love for the invisible being, then her heartbreak. Betrayal. She showed all of the that with her body, her face, her movements. When the song finally ended, the audience was speechless (in a good way) then began thunderous applause of not that many people. Her final pose of absolute agony gave way to a bright smile that made everyone clap more. The judges looked impressed and wrote notes. Mr. Damocles, Miss Bustier along with some private instructors who she recognized as Mr. D'Argencourt and Ms. Mendeleev clapped appreciatively. The only ones who didn’t clap were Chloe and Sabrina, but that was to be expected. Marinette feel good about that solo. It was decently technically difficult (enough to be impressive) and it allowed for a lot of artistic freedom. She developed the story herself, interpreting the music in her own special way, making it utterly unique to her. And, boy, did her hard work pay off. 

Marinette had yet to see Adrien dance. His father had already cast him for Florimund, so there was no need to audition. Apparently that first day, Miss Bustier didn’t know and that’s how he got out in impossible speed. Of course, she heard all this information from Alya, who heard it from Rose, who heard it from Chloe’s loudmouth talking to Sabrina. Either way, Marinette had never seen him dance. He was supposedly a prodigy, picking up difficult moves from the time he was four. From Alya’s research on dance websites, one interview said his favorite move was the “pas de chat”. Marinette had to laugh at that. “The step of the cat”. How ironic. He had been endorsed by many elite dancers, ranging from his father to his teacher to alumni to other important professionals. Marinette wanted to see for herself, though. Also the fact that he hadn’t auditioned or done his solo in class, meant none of the class had seen him. So she was going to dance in the same ballet with him without ever seeing him dance.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I DEMAND A RECOUNT.” Chloe screamed in the hallway, a crowd surrounding a piece of paper taped onto the wall. People chattered excitedly, congratulating or consoling each other. When Marinette walked in with Alya, Sabrina tried to get Chloe to calm down, failing miserably. 

Correction: Mari was going to partner with him without ever seeing him dance. 

“Who did you bribe? Blackmail? What kind of shit did you get on Adrien Agreste?” Chloe spat poisonously.   
Even though Mari didn’t have any idea was she was talking about, her response was fluid.  
“Don’t ever hold me to your own standards, Chloe. You might consider blackmail, but some of us actually want to work hard to get what we want.”  
Alya looked at her friend with respect, standing up to her bully. The Stray Cat was doing Mari some good. Honestly though, they were seventeen, it’s about time Chloe grew out of this whole bullying thing. Chloe stomped away, fuming, and Mari and Alya could finally celebrate. Though Alya had never been in it for the dancing, she was a soloist (cast as Lilac Fairy). They notice Chloe’s name next to that of Carabosse. And Marinette’s name lay just above Adrien’s and just next to the name Aurora.   
Everyone is their class was cast for a part, even then there are not enough to fill all of them. Younger students are to be in the corps de ballet and some private students are also cast for larger parts, along with some alumni. Marinette recognizes only Nathanael, a shy but talented redhead, who is cast as one of the princes.   
Miss Bustier and the rest of the private teachers banded together in order to put the production on. Agreste Academy definitely wasn’t a poor school, so props and costumes were not an issue. The choreography was taught as a class to the corps de ballet and sectionals for the soloists and principals.   
Marinette and Adrien went into their first section the week after, Marinette bouncing in with new found confidence. She went to the club with Alya over the weekend, ecstatic at her casting and put all of her happiness into a dancing. She would also be dancing with Adrien, so that was definitely a perk.   
Adrien had to smile at his new friend hopping in with a jovial demeanor, much like her character, Aurora. Perfect casting. Marinette deserved a good partner, and honestly, Adrien wasn’t sure if he was up to the task. He’d seen what she could do in terms of technical work as well as acting, the girl was talented. They had never danced together before, nor had she seen him dance. What if she was disappointed? What if she demanded a new partner? No, that didn’t seem like something she would do.   
Despite their abrasive beginnings of misunderstanding, Adrien noticed that Mari got on well with everyone in class save Chloe and Sabrina. She was the first to stand up for others and the last to take any shit from Chloe (expect maybe Alya). When she was mad at him (which hadn’t happened since the Water Incident™) or anyone else, she kind of reminded him of Ladybug. A thirst for justice. But then whenever he approached Marinette, she stuttered out of nerve and then the similarity ended there. But Mari helped Rose with her turns, and Nathanael with his lifts (somehow) and Alya with her acting. After rehearsal, he was planning on talking to Mari, if only to make sure they were on good terms, but Alya dragged her out quickly, muttering about how late they were going to be.   
It was Thursday. OH. IT’S THURSDAY. Adrien left just as quickly after them, and if he could grow more excited, he did. He was picking the music for Ladybug today and he was gonna get revenge. He smiled to himself, thinking about how Ladybug would react to the song choice. Thursdays were battle day and last week the battle had ended with Cat Noir doing Fergalicious and Ladybug winning only by a little. With this piece, she might win again (probably) but honestly this was for his satisfaction, just to see her dance.   
The more he thought about Ladybug, the more Adrien realized how deep he was. Every time he thought of her, his heart did a dance routine he couldn’t replicate. Probably never could. There’s a certain dance that not even Adrien could learn. He couldn’t see it. He only felt it. You can’t choreograph that.   
Break dancing...that was different than ballet. In ballet everything had to be precise, perfect. Stiff. Sure he was good at it, but he didn’t feel anything when he danced here, not anymore. The club had no rules. You danced from the heart and that was it. There was no one style. There was no routine. You danced what you danced and the crowd went wild. He appreciated Cat Noir fans more than Adrien Agreste fans. Cat Noir was the real dancer, while Adrien was the carbon copy. He wasn’t anyone when he danced ballet. No thought, nothing went into it. Break dancing had his heart. The real him.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, kitty, what ya got for me?” Ladybug brushed her pointer finger under his chin. The nickname had made it’s place this past weekend. Neither argued with it. It just seemed natural.   
“Well, I figured I’ll give you two options, Animals by Martin Garrix OR SexyBack, J T.”  
“Ooh, that’s a toughie. I don't know it, but I’ll take Animals, but thanks for the next idea for you!”   
“My plan all along, bugaboo.” Cat Noir, dressed in his usual black sweatshirt with green accents, winked.   
Ladybug danced the song with a certain expertise. She used all of the repetition to her advantage, making her appear unpredictable. The song was a remix of the original Animals, which was all the better. She utilized the beat pulses to contract her body and land on specific poses. Once again Cat Noir was surprised at the control Ladybug had over her body and how it seemed plugged in to the music. Sure, Ladybug's brain was moving her, but she could somehow dance to music she'd never heard and create moves to go with. She never ceased to amaze. At the final beat, she landed in her normal position in front of Cat, staring at him with a finger to him chest.   
"Damn, gorgeous, you are something else." He cocked a grin as she flipped her pigtail and said, "I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like to leave it up to the imagination of the reader but the song i thought of for Mari's audition was this: https://soundcloud.com/mrinal-desai/petit-reve-bizarre-xiii-stephan-milana-tcm-underground-official-classical-remix  
> For the break dance scene the song is this: https://soundcloud.com/iamhypnotik/animals-martin-garrix-hypnotik


	7. Guess Who's Bringing SexyBack?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehe, sorry this is literally the longest time to update ever. 
> 
> my school year is almost over so updating more regularly will be a lot easier.

“As for me, bugaboo, I have decided to lay claim on the song you so respectfully turned down.”

He swung out his arm and bowed dramatically. 

Because, yes, the revenge he would have on Ladybug wasn’t her song. It was his. Man, this was gonna be fun.  

 

The first couple beats of SexyBack began to play without another word. 

And suddenly, Cat Noir turned into the single most flirty person on the planet. Ladybug honestly wasn’t sure where it came from. Yeah, he was usually flirty, but this was a whole other  _ level _ . She couldn’t find it inside herself to be offended by his advances, it was an act, after all. Cat Noir would get very close to Ladybug until he was either pushed away with an eye roll or danced off. He moon walked, twirled around Ladybug, once trying to coax her onto the floor with a single finger (she almost gave in but just laughed). His dancing was just serious enough to be not serious at all. He seemed to be the master of doing such a thing. 

At the line,  _ You see these shackles baby I’m your slave _ he slid to her on his knees holding out his wrists then hopped to his feet and did a backflip onto his hands and spun around. His blond hair swung around his face, flying into his eyes and then promptly being thrown back by him whipping his head more. He would do an impressive trick, then completely undermine it by doing something stupid like booping Ladybug on the nose. 

_ You ready?  _ He threw his hands up in the air trying to pump up the crowd (and succeeding). At the final sultry  _ yes _ he winked and did some fancy foot work until the song ended. 

Cat Noir knew how to put on a show.  Also, he won that round. Not that Ladybug really minded. Even she had to admit, Cat Noir could dance. And they would always be evenly matched. Apparently he knew that too. Running a hand through his hair (now wet with sweat), he found Ladybug in the crowd and pulled her into a hallway. 

  
  


The music blasted, the bass beat thumping in Cat Noir’s chest, although Ladybug’s presence might have had something to do with that. He smirked, “So? How’d you like it?” 

“You are a funny kitten.” Cat noticed his heart beating now significantly faster than the beat, confirming his aforementioned suspicions that Ladybug was the one causing it. God, that nickname would be the death of him. Then he grew serious. This was a serious matter. He’d never done this before, but it was something that needed to be done. 

“Hey, Ladybug, I was wondering,” he stuttered, “If maybe, uh well, you and I could, um. Bedancepartners?” 

“What?” Ladybug seemed utterly confused and honestly, and he didn’t blame her. Eyes searched eyes, and Cat Noir brought his smile back. 

“I was wondering if, since you and I seem to be so evenly matched,” he added dramatically, the nervous boy gone all of a sudden, “If you wanted to team up. You know, I’ll make up for the things you lack and all that jazz.” The added reference to the song he’d just performed so expertly (and stupidly, but hey, that’s what you get when the girl of your dreams is watching). 

“More like I’ll make up for what  _ you _ lack, hotshot.” Her finger jabbed him in the chest. 

“Is that a yes?” 

“Eh, I don’t really need a dance partner, but you know what, it might be fun” she shrugged, “We can try it.”

  
  


Adrien was very happy when entering class the next day. The students noticed, the teachers noticed, hell, the lights themselves seemed to brighten with him. 

Marinette caught it too. She was pretty pumped already. For class. For Cat Noir and her partnership. Yeah, everything was going alri-

“ADRIKINS!!!!”  _ Oh fuck _ , thought the whole room at once. “Adrien!!! Hi, darling, so guess what!!! My father was talking to your father and your father started talking about your amazing achievements and my father was saying we should congratulate you soooooo, now we are hosting a  _ very _ elite party and YOU ARE THE GUEST OF HONOR! I am to be your date, obv-”

Chloe continued talking, but the plot progressing points were all said, and Adrien stopped listening. A very elite party meant none of his ACTUAL friends could go. Just the stuck up snotty rich kind of people. Like Chloe. And various “people of importance”. And worst of all, people who put cats in sweaters. Adrien cringed internally. He should be the only clothed cat in existence.  Anyway, Nino couldn’t go. His new friends, Marinette (who Chloe seemed to have it out for) and Alya (guilty by association, he guessed) couldn’t go. Ladybug  _ definitely  _ couldn’t. Nor any of the others from the club. He put on the polite smile he’d mastered a long time ago and nodded, “Sure, Chloe, sounds like fun”  _ It sounds like my own personal form of hell, is what it sounds like,  _ He thought. Inside, he laughed at the thought of people from the club going to a formal gathering. A formal  _ dance _ no less. He imagined the appalled look on his father’s face as Timebreaker showed up in roller skates and did the splits. Then as Nino wore his light up glasses and danced as the speakers played his “BREAK DOWN MIX” (Rule #1 about “BREAK DOWN MIX”: the name has to be screamed) (Rule #2 about “BREAK DOWN MIX”: whenever it is requested, the DJ  _ must  _ come down and dance). 

He did not want to go. He had to go. He was slightly less happy now. He walked over to his partner, who was sitting on the floor lacing her pointe shoes, “That’s sounds fun.” Marinette didn’t look up. 

“It’d be more fun if other people were going. Like the rest of the class.”  _ Like the people at the club.  _

“Yeah, I’m sure Chloe would just  _ love  _ that.” She sounded like she believed Chloe would not love that at all. Adrien agreed. As far as he was concerned, he should just deal with it and get on with his life. Not worth his breath. 

Miss Bustier clapped her hand a few times to get everyone’s attention, “Alright,everyone! Gather up. We are going to separate you into sections to start working. Fairies to studio B, Chloe, Sabrina you’ll go to C, Princes to D- not you Adrien you stay here with Marinette.” 

Alya, Rose, Nath, Sabrina and Chloe along with a few others all left to their destinations (though Chloe didn’t leave without throwing a stank eye to Marinette) and left Adrien, Marinette and Miss Bustier to Studio A. 

“Ok, you two. This is going to be a lot of work. Do you think you’ll be up to it?” 

This question was completely ludicrous. Marinette was obviously the hardest working ballerina here, and Adrien worked his ass off whether he wanted to or not. Their faces seemed to show it because Bustier smiled, “Let’s get to work.”

And work they did. For right now, they worked on duets. Marinette and Adrien could do solos no problem, but Adrien had never partnered with someone at this level of dance before. Sure, his father made him do some random stuff with Chloe for competitions, but it wasn’t nearly as advanced as this. Normally, when that happened, he and Chloe did similar dance moves in sync. Then most of the attention was supposed to be drawn to him (just a way for his father to get him into every category of competition as possible). He found very quickly, that most of the times he was partnered with Mari, it wasn’t about him (much to his delight). He was there to make sure Marinette looked good and didn’t get hurt. He was her balance, her support and her net. It was completely foreign and amazing. The focus was not him; he was not in the spotlight. Marinette was. And she was right to be there. 

  
  


Marinette scolded herself for being nervous. She had performed in front of thousands of people (total, not at once), but now, standing in front of ADRIEN AGRESTE she lost all nerve. 

He didn’t notice, thank god, but Mari was completely petrified. Alya was not standing by her side telling her not to say stupid stuff. Cat Noir was not the partner in front of her, making stupid puns and being flirtatious. Chloe wasn’t telling her off, something that Mari could handle. No no no. This was Adrien Agreste. Golden boy, Mr. Perfect Hair, dance prodigy extraordinaire who donates to charity on the weekends. Come on! Who wouldn’t get all tongue tied in front of that mess (or so she hoped, amirite, ladies?).  

Luckily, there wasn’t much talking. Ballet needed no words. They clicked almost instantaneously. As if dancing with each other, playing off each other's strengths came naturally. As if her debilitating crush on him wasn’t bad enough, now he had to be a fantastic dance partner.

Marinette had only partnered with a couple other people before. One was Nathanael. They were really good partners, good friends, performing at wonderful venues and dancing with wonderful groups. Then Nath said he couldn’t be her partner anymore. She never understood why. They hadn’t spoken more than two words at time to each other in years. Though she couldn’t help but notice the disappointed look on his face when he discovered Adrien would be Florimund.

Some others were not nearly as good as Nath or Adrien. They complained, and didn’t try. Those ones had brought Mari to do only solos for years. She’d become good at learning solos on the fly. To any music. And choreographing dances to said music. 

ANYWAY, Adrien was about as respectful as it gets. He immediately admitted he’s never partnered with anyone before, not in this way, but was excited to learn. Miss Bustier directed him at first, where to put his hands when she spun ( _ holy shit, he’s touching my waist _ ) and how to do lifts ( _ these are a lot more fun when the guy can actually support your weight _ ). Lucky Miss Bustier was there, otherwise they would have no idea where to start. 

 

Miss Bustier was not there for Ladybug and Cat Noir’s first meet up. What was lucky about this rehearsal was that it seemed Cat Noir was actually there to work and not just to flirt. Ladybug was more than grateful. 

“So, you wanted to partner? What for?” Ladybug asked casually.

“You are a fantastic dancer and I wanted to learn from you.” 

“You don’t seem to need my help, kitty.” 

“Huh, yeah, totally. Anyway, I also thought it’d be fun and that we could win everything they throw at us.” Cat set his bag down and started ruffling through it. 

“You want to partner for  _ competition _ ?” Ladybug’s heart rate jacked up. And not in the good way like it was around Adrien. 

“Yeah,” he turned to her, “I didn’t say that? There’s a few breakdance battles around Paris. We’d be the dynamic duo.” He smiled at the last line. She’d never see him actually smile. Just shit eating smirks here and there. But this smile was genuine. Nervousness spread throughout Ladybug’s body. She hadn’t competed since-

“I thought you wanted to, you know, keep the club a secret? Wouldn’t a cat themed kid at competition kind of be obvious?”

“They’re allowed to find  _ me _ .  _ I  _ don’t matter. It’s the club that can’t be found. So what kind of music do you think?”

She reluctantly accepted the change of subject, mostly because she’d been excited for this. She still wasn’t sure about competing, but hey, they’d see what happened. 

“Well…”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IF Y'ALL HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MUSIC DON'T BE AFRAID TO MESSAGE ME. my tumblr is chat-noir-dork 
> 
> or you can comment


	8. And The Crowd Goes Wild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alya hatches a plan that may or may not completely RUIN ADRIEN THE POOR BOY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being a screw up. Anyway here's Ladrien fluff/sin I guess depending on how you look at it

Though it was a small rebellion, Adrien still prided himself on the acquisition of a DJ for the ball instead of the string quartet. 

 

“Father, you realize that most of the guests will be children of important figures. Teenagers.” 

“Yes, of course.”

“Teenagers dance, father. I am a dancer, I have dancer friends, a string quartet is not suitable for dancing.”

“I suppose not, but the music at those rotten clubs nowadays make me sick, and I will not have you listen to such nonsense.” 

“Father, I have a friend who creates playlists, there can be no lyrics, you may even listen to it beforehand to approve it.”

“If this is the way you want it…”

“It is.”

“So be it.” His father left without another word. 

 

Yeah, Adrien might have done a happy dance as soon as the door was closed. Nino could come now. He would DJ, create the playlist, keep Adrien company in this hell-soaked ball. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mari sat on her bed holding a cup of tea, casually scrolling through post after post of Adrien Agreste success stories. She had yet to watch a video of him, considering she could watch him live, and thought that watching the video would be unauthentic. Alya sat on the bed next to her, also scrolling through god knows what. There was complete silence other than the gentle sips of tea and the occasional click of the laptop. 

That is, until Alya slammed her computer closed so fast it made Mari jump and splash tea on her flowery pink pajamas. 

“Alya!”

“Mari, we need a plan.” Alya bounced on her bed to turn to Mari. 

“A plan?” 

“Listen, Mari, I’ve seen the guest list of this masquerade ball thing that Chloe talked about, and it is the  _ real shit _ . I need to get in,” a single finger jammed in the direction of Mari, “and so do you.”

“Pfft, you heard Chloe, the guest list is extremely selective, and selective  _ by her _ . There’s no way we’ll get in.” 

“Aren’t you listening? That’s why we need a plan.”

 

Mari thought about this. A plan to get into a ball full of prissy rich people, Chloe included, and  _ Adrien.  _ It didn’t really seem like Adrien’s scene, yet he was the guest of honor. Sure, Mari wanted to get in, but wasn’t really sure how or what she would do once she was inside. If anything, Adrien would ask how they got in, then Chloe would call for security, then they’d be thrown in jail, and the spot of Aurora would be given to Chloe, and Adrien would fall in love with her and then Marinette would be alone forever. 

And she told this to Alya, in the way she does when she thinks about the worst case scenario. Fast. 

“Whoa whoa whoa honey, calm down. Anyway, while you were thinking about that mess, I remembered something. Mari,  _ our parents are catering.  _ We sneak in through the kitchens.”

“Okay, but we’d have to tell our parents we’re working, and then we wouldn’t actually be going. Also it wouldn’t change the fact that we  _ aren’t supposed to be there at all _ .” 

There was silence for a few moments as Alya thought. Then she slapped her hand on the bed and opened her mouth in an epiphany. 

“Mari,” slowly Alya turned her head towards her in a very dramatic way, “go as Ladybug.”

“What?”

“Mari, it’s genius! I’m genius. We go as our other selves. Ladybug and LadyWifi. No one will know who we are, we sneak out of the kitchens telling our parents we are going on a break, I interview famous people, you dance with Adrien as the sexy beast you are AND NO ONE’S THE WISER. It’s a masquerade  _ anyway _ . Girl, I am so smart, why am I at dance school.” 

“Alya, I don’t know.” Mari said, referring to the plan, rather than Alya questioning her college choices. 

“We have dresses that match. That hot red one, and the purple one for me. You did always tell me it’s my color.”

“But, Ladybug’s never interacted with Adrien before.”

“That’s why it’s perfect. Fresh start, Ladybug confidence.”

Mari sighed, guessing that Alya wouldn’t let this go. She was right. 

 

This dance was pompous. Adrien was painfully reminded of this fact by the fancy gold vases the stood on every table of the famous Parisian Hotel. He had been looking around for someone to whom he could relate. Out of place in this formal setting. Of course, Adrien didn’t look out of place. Though the only one not hidden by a mask besides his father, he had grown used to the dinners and parties in which he should be seen but not heard. And being seen was kind of his job. Dancing, more ballet, was about how people see you. Dancing at the club was more informal, everyone shouting and flirting and singing. In ballet, you shouldn’t be heard, you should be seen. 

And, boy, was he seen. There was not a single person in the large ballroom that wasn’t looking at him. He smiled politely, shook hands with diplomats’ children, who were either completely apathetic or appeared to be undressing him with their eyes. God, he was like a large piece of meat on sale. Everyone wanted a piece of him. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure what this party was for, but he was wearing a black slimming suit that didn’t exactly keep the advances away. Adrien just wanted to grab Nino and walk out and go to the club, but that wasn’t an option. 

The last person Adrien expected to see at the party was a masked beauty more commonly know as Ladybug. Even less likely, she had come out of the back, where there wasn’t an entrance. And yet in she walked a red black polka dotted mask donned her face. She was smiling at the girl next to her, presumably Lady Wifi, judging from the color scheme of black and purple and silver. Adrien couldn’t help to stare at Ladybug, whose dress was...well...very flattering. The red dress (no surprise there) had openings at her waist, showing her bare sides. Bottom was fitted around her hips and cascaded down her legs, though there was a slit showing off more leg than he had ever seen, considering she only wore pants at the club. Adrien, for one, couldn’t stop staring. Nino looked at Adrien frantically, wondering what Ladybug and Wifi were doing there. Apparently Nino wasn’t forewarned of his girlfriend’s arrival either. 

This development immediately lead to the question of Ladybug’s background. Did she come from a rich family? If not, how did she get in? And why? Lady Wifi was no doubt in here for her blog, but Ladybug didn’t really have any business here, did she? But then he realized, he really didn’t care about the answers too much. She was here, and that’s all he needed. 

Wifi was still talking to her, but she was staring back at him. Her lips made a quick flick of a smirk and she raised an eyebrow. 

_ Fuck, Ladybug what are you doing. _ Ladybug wasn’t really supposed to know Adrien, though most of Paris knew him, but he definitely wasn’t supposed to know Ladybug. That thought crossed his mind only for a second, but he ignored it, put his drink on a passing tray and moved fluidly down to her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Mari was absolutely certain that she was going to fuck this up, but when she saw Adrien she summoned her inner (and outer) Ladybug and  _ teased him _ . Alya looked at her like she was an alien, and honestly, Mari felt like one. And that, that  _ tease _ brought Adrien down to  _ her.  _

Alya gasped a second, then moved away quickly after a quick squeeze of Mari’s arm, Mari glanced to see DJ doing his job in the corner. What are the odds? 

Adrien drifted down, never breaking his gaze on her. The way he looked a suit should be made illegal, honestly. It made Marinette’s face grow as red as her dress. She took a couple of unnoticable deep breaths. Finally, Marinette wasn’t here, it was all Ladybug and her confidence. Naturally the first thing she did was tease him more. She smirked as he stood a couple feet away from her. People walked and talked in between them, but Adrien stared at her as though she were the only person in the room. She was the one who closed the distance. 

“Hi there,” not in her normal Marinette self, in her Ladybug flirtatious voice. She saw him visibly gulp and sputter out, “H-hi.”

Ladybug has never met Adrien, he didn’t know her, was she that intimidatingly beautiful? The thought made her feel powerful. Which seriously helped her whole situation. He looked incredibly attractive with a bit of red rising to his cheeks. His blond hair swept so professionally that it managed to look messy and neat at the same time. 

  
  


“W-who are you?” The blond boy managed, his mind finally working properly for once. 

 

“You can call me Ladybug...for now.” The words  _ for now _ made Adrien feel giddy, and little bit more like Cat Noir with her playful banter, but only a little. Without his mask, he could only go so far, or so he thought. 

A new song started, courtesy of Nino. Adrien plucked some courage out of thin air. 

“You ever dance with blonds?” He held out his hand. 

“Almost explicitly,” she said with a playful smile, gently laying her hand in his. 

Apparently, both of them knew the song and immediately could move to the music, snapping into dance positions as the music did. This was his partner. He knew everything she would do, he knew her style or thought he did. He did not expect her to be even more flirty than she was with Cat Noir. Her heeled foot slid back in a circle and she hopped back up to meet him. In heels, her face met him about chin level, but she looked him in the eye. She was a talented break dancer, but she appeared to know her way around many dances, including this one. The look she gave him was a challenge, seeing how far he was willing to go. Adrien hoped his smile would be enough to say  _ I’m up for anything _ . Suddenly, Ladybug’s feet moved at impossible speeds, hopping over one another and he knew, she understood. And just like that, Adrien was gone. The mask was off, but Cat Noir was all that was there, and the dance could finally begin. 

 

This Adrien was a lot different that the one Marinette danced with in class. He was slightly less concerned with boundaries (only slightly) like he knew what she would be ok with. His hands dragged over her waist, spinning her. There faces were always impossibly close, she could feel his breath on her ear when she was greeted with his neck. Dancing, dancing grew intimate pretty quickly, that’s why she was a professional when dancing with Cat Noir or Adrien as Marinette. That was all for other people to see. Sure, people had started to gather around them; they had become quite the spectacle. But this dance was far from professional. Both of them were dancing for themselves. Indulging in their partner’s spontaneous need for whatever moves they wanted next. Ladybug brought her leg to Adrien’s waist and he dipped her, bringing her back up to be centimeters away from his mouth. Ladybug wrapped a leg around Adrien’s and dragged her other leg, forcing her body weight onto his. They both smirked at each other, and Adrien spun her by the hand, faster this time, making her dress spin along with her. Their final pose was possibly the one to make Adrien blush the most. Ladybug’s foot pushed back behind her, making her closer to the ground. She was bent backwards a little and Adrien’s face hovered over hers, close enough that their noses touched. The song ended, and then all he could hear was her panting breaths, the thought that her shortness of breath wasn’t from physical exertion made his breath shorten as well. 

_ Oh my god.  _ Adrien stood her up.  _ I just tangoed with Ladybug _ . 

The song ended and there was silence. Disbelief no doubt. The crowd had just seen Adrien Agreste dance intimately with an unknown female. The same Adrien Agreste that was nervous when speaking to a large crowd and blushed whenever someone so much as complimented him. This bunch of rich snobs thought they knew Adrien Agreste. Boy, were they wrong. 

The silence ended and there was thunderous applause. They straightened, their faces still close enough to feel each other’s breaths In the midst of the noise, Adrien almost kissed her. If the noise had died, she would’ve whispered, but she had to speak almost shouting. 

“Sorry, that’s the end of my break.” 

They broke apart, Ladybug walked fluidly away, only to be lost at the slowly quieting crowd before Adrien had time to make sense of the statement. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly guys I'm not sure how you put up with me thank you for your comments and support. <3<3<3


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